Category: Video - Page 34 - International Solidarity Movement

Video – Amena Rabo: A life under occupation

6th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On the 2nd of August, Amena Abed AlFatah Abed Rabo passed away in Hebron. She was 71 years old and suffered a stroke. However, Amena might still have been with us, had the Israeli military let the ambulance through the many checkpoints. The journey to the hospital that should have taken three minutes was prolonged by more than one and a half hours due to restrictions and harassment by Israeli occupation forces. Amena died in the ambulance before reaching proper care. This incident was merely the last of many injustices that marked Amena’s life from the age of seven.

Amena Abed AlFatah Abed Rabo was originally from the Khema neighbourhood of Ramle in current Israel. She was seven years old when the war broke out in 1948. Her family was forcibly driven from their home following the creation of the state of Israel. In the chaos that followed, Amena was parted from her family. At the time she was blind in one eye, causing her to be easily disoriented. In her distress she fell and also lost sight in her good eye, leaving her completely blind. Amena spent a month on her own, before a friend of the family recognized her on the street and reunited her with her mother, father and three siblings.

Reunited, the family fled to the West Bank city of Hebron in an attempt to start a new life. The family was never offered any compensation for the home they were expelled from, nor the land taken from them and upon reaching Hebron they spent three years living under a tree. Amena was one of many unrecognized refugees within Palestine.

In 1951 Amena’s brother had managed to save enough money to buy the family a house, in which she lived the rest of her life. For a period Amena’s life was relatively calm in Hebron, but this changed following the outbreak of the first intifada in 1987. At this time, the Israeli occupying forces in the West Bank constructed roadblocks throughout the city of Hebron and made it impossible for Palestinians to drive within the city. To Amena this meant she could no longer leave her house. Due to her invalidity she needed a car get around and this was no longer permitted to Palestinians.

These roadblocks are still intact today and are part of the reason Amena did not make it to the hospital in time. During the last years of her life Amena lived with her nephew’s family of ten, in what is now the Israeli controlled H2 area of Hebron. Five days prior to her death, her nephew took her to the hospital where she spent three days. As she got a little better the doctors allowed her to go home. But the following day Amena suffered a stroke. The family immediately called for an ambulance.

As it had not arrived after thirty minutes, the family called once again. They were told that the ambulance had left on time but had been held back at the checkpoint. The soldiers guarding the checkpoint would not let them through without a written permit, even though Red Crescent ambulances should be able to pass freely without question. After another thirty minutes the ambulance personnel did manage to persuade Israeli soldiers to let them through but only until the next roadblock. This meant that the family had to carry Amena from their house to the roadblock. This path is rocky and hilly and it took the family another thirty minutes to get there. Finally in the ambulance they were once again stopped at the very same checkpoint that had withheld the ambulance earlier, this time for fifteen minutes. All in all, the trip to the hospital was delayed by approximately an hour and forty five minutes. This trip, from the family home to the nearby hospital of Al Khalil, would have taken three minutes if protocol had been respected.

Upon arriving to the hospital doctors quickly realised that Amena’s condition was now so critical that she had to be taken to a hospital with more expertise. This hospital, Al Ahlil, is only seven minutes away, but Amena died on the way.

During the last couple of days, Amena’s family has held her funeral, but the grief is still with them. Her nephew, Rami Abed AlFatah Hamdan, is a human rights student and is considering filing a complaint in the hope that this will not happen to another family in the future. As he says, having unrestricted access to ambulances is a human right, a right that needs to be enforced in Hebron. He feels he has nothing left to lose, and this incident has only confirmed his resolution to work with human rights. When asked if the soldiers have expressed any guilt, he simply smiles sadly and says: “If they felt guilt, they would never have stopped the ambulance”.

Unfortunately this is not an incident that stands alone. Ambulances in the Hebron area are often withheld and harassed when trying to reach patients. Hence, in 2008 a woman gave birth at a checkpoint and the same year a man died without receiving medical care. Nor is Amena Abed AlFatah Abed Rabo’s story as a refugee within Palestine unusual. Despite peace talks in Ramallah, Israel continues its plan to demolish 30,000-40,000 Bedouin homes as described in the Prawer Plan and has just approved a 1,000 new settlements in the West Bank.

Stories like Amena’s are a symptom of the Israeli occupation forces systematic attempt to drive Palestinians from their homes and make their lives as difficult as possible. This is part of a policy of ethnic cleansing aiming to expel all remaining Palestinians and Arab Bedouins from Palestine. The internationally recognised researcher and author Ilan Pappe describes this in his book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” and in interview with the ISM:

But then I checked the American State Department website about ethnic cleansing and the description of what ethnic cleansing is and it fitted so well with what was and is going on in Palestine. This description does not only describe an act of expulsion but also its’ legal implications, which is in this specific case, is a crime against humanity. It also says very clearly that the only way to compensate an ethnic cleansing is to ask the people who were expelled whether they want to return or not.

Read the full interview here.

Video- Soldiers assault a twelve-year-old Palestinian while settlers invade family rooftop in Hebron

3rd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Saturday August 3rd was not a peaceful Saturday for the Palestinians in Hebron. At approximately 16.30 two settlers invaded the roof of the Abu Shamsiya family in Tel Rumeida, whilst three soldiers attacked a twelve year old boy in the street nearby.

When the settlers on the roof were approached by internationals and told that they were on private property and therefore had to leave, they refused and said they came there every week. The fact that they had entered a private home without consent of the family did not concern them, on the contrary they expressed that they felt it was their right. When asked to leave the settlers behaved aggressively by yelling and continuously refusing to do so. After having argued with internationals one of the settlers threatened to lie to the soldiers and say that they had been hit by the internationals. He argued that even though it was not true, the soldiers would believe him over the international activists.

As seen in the video below, in the meantime three Israeli soldiers assaulted three young boys just down the street. The soldiers started by harshly pushing one boy, afterwards they grabbed a second boy, Islam by the hair and kicked him. Thereafter a third boy ran to his house chased by the soldiers. When internationals asked why the military was chasing the boy, they lied and said the boys had been throwing stones. The boy said that he had simply ran because he was scared after having seen his twelve-year-old friend, Islam being brutally attacked by soldiers for no apparent reason.

These are not unusual events. The Abu Shamsiya family is often victim of settler and military harassment, the family’s roof is on street level and settlers often go there to throw stones, harass the family and break their property. Saturdays are particularly violent in Hebron, only last week both Abu Shamsiya and his son Muhammed were attacked by settlers whilst the military was watching, with Abu Shamsiya then being arrested on false charges while the settlers were freed without charges.

Hebron has large settlements in the middle of the city housing approximately 500 settlers some of whom are extremely aggressive and violent. Additionally there are 2500 Israeli occupation soldiers stationed in the city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZrlKo_PGMI

UPDATED: Four arrested at Nabi Saleh’s weekly protest

3rd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Update 3th August: The fourth Israeli activist was released this morning at 5am.

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On Friday August 2, Israeli Border Police aggressively attacked protesters marching in Nabi Saleh’s weekly demonstration, shooting rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs at very short distances while arresting protesters and covering them in skunk water. The attack was initiated without any previous action from the demonstrators and resulted in the arrest of four Israeli activist.

Protesters marching down the road towards the spring (Photo By Tamimi Press)

After midday prayer, around forty people, Palestinians together with Israeli and international activists, gathered in the village’s square, marched through Nabi Saleh’s streets and down the hill towards the stolen water spring. Israeli occupation forces were heavily present from the beginning and quickly charged at the demonstrators.

Invading the village, Israeli Border Police surrounded the protesters and without warning began firing rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs and skunk water at them. Though illegal by Israeli law, the rubber and plastic coated steel bullets were shot from distances down to 10meters, barely missing the heads of fleeing international activists.

Despite the peaceful vibe of the protest, Israeli Border Police officers arrested four Israeli demonstrators and took them to the settlement nearby. One activist was humiliatingly handcuffed and blindfolded as he was taken away, in spite of him offering no resistance to the arrest. Three of the four activists were later released.

The village of Nabi Saleh has demonstrated against the theft of their natural spring by the nearby Halamish settlement and the occupation in general since December 2009. Israeli forces violently suppress the weekly Friday protests by shooting tear gas canisters, skunk water, sound bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets and even live ammunition at protesters. Two people have been killed, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, and many others severely injured.

Updated: ‘Day of rage’ against Prawer Plan met with violent repression and over ten arrests

2nd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Palestine

Update 2nd August: The Palestinian activist arrested at the protest near Hizma checkpoint has been released after paying 3000NIS. All arrestees at the demonstration in Wadi Ara have also been released but will have to be under house arrest for three days.

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On August 1st, ‘day of rage’, thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the ethnic cleansing of a conservative estimate of 40000 Bedouins from the Naqab; the so called Prawer Plan.

The demonstration organized in the Naqab itself took place in the South Rahat Junction “Lehavim”. The start of the protest, which was scheduled for 4pm was delayed, after police blocked several roads leading to the demonstration and alternative routes had to be found. In the end over 1500 people from all over historic Palestine and international activists managed to assemble and voice their anger against the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of over 35 villages in the Naqab region. Strong slogans asking for a stop to the ethnic cleansing, a change to the Prawer Plan and freedom for the Naqab and Palestine were chanted.

Protest chanting at the demonstration in the Naqab (Photo by ISM)

The protest was heavily policed, with over 200 police officers, several of them on horseback. Even though the protest was conducted peacefully, two minors, Hisham A’mor and Khaled Nasasra, were arrested and released this morning.

In Wadi A’ra, Haifa District, the demonstration took place at the A’ra-A’ra’ra intersection with around 1500 participants. Israeli forces beat protesters and used teargas against them. Eleven people were arrested and will probably have the court hearing today in Haifa.

The ‘day of rage’ not only spread throughout historic Palestine. Solidarity actions with the Palestinian Bedouins crossed the Green line as dozens of people protested near Hizma Checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

At around 3pm, several buses departed from Ramallah towards the Naqab to join the protests against the Prawer Plan. As expected, Israeli forces stopped the buses from continuing their way near Hizma checkpoint.

Demonstrators went off the buses and protested on the road leading to Hizma checkpoint. Over twenty special unit police officers and several soldiers threw several sound bombs, violently pushed protesters and beat several people with batons. One female protester was kicked by a police officer in the back and another activist was arrested. Standing on the sidewalk of the road and chanting slogans against the ethnic cleansing of the Naqab, demonstrators were surrounded from all sides by Israeli forces until the buses arrived and everyone left. It is worth mentioning that the bus drivers were fined by Israeli police with 750NIS fine each.

Protester being arrested by Police special unit at Hizma demonstration (Photo by ISM)

Late at 9:30pm, more than 300 people gathered at Damascus gate in East Jerusalem. Protesters chanted slogans in solidarity with the Bedouins communities in the Naqab and marched into East Jerusalem towards Sheik Jarrah. The demonstration turned back towards the Damascus gate again, after it was blocked by a large number of mounted police. Israeli police repeatedly charged the demonstration and threw sound bombs at people. They also deliberately threw sound bombs into the crowded area outside the gate, and into restaurants and market stalls. This caused a huge stampede of people running away from the police, and caused one middle aged woman to feint from shock.

These protests come after July 15^th first ‘day of rage’ in which a general strike in historic Palestine was called and numerous demonstrations against the Prawer Plan organised.

The Prawer Plan making its way through the Israeli Knesset aims to destroy 35 villages that it does not recognise. The destruction of these ‘unrecognised’ villages will forcibly displace a conservative estimate of 40 000 indigenous Palestinian Bedouin for already pre approved Jewish only settlements in the Naqab (Negev).

Historic Palestine’s Bedouin population are the indigenous population of the Naqab. Their cultural and historical link to the land is clear, given that since settling in the Naqab in the seventh century, they have been the only inhabitants of the desert up until the mid twentieth century. Before the creation of Israel in 1948 over 100000 Bedouin lived in the Naqab and made up over 99% of the inhabitants. The establishment of Israel as a state with a Jewish majority needed the ‘Nakba,’ or catastrophe that meant the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians including 90000 Bedouin in the Naqab, who were forced to leave their historic land to become refugees in the West Bank, Gaza strip and other countries in the world. After the Nakba the 10 000 Bedouin who managed to survive the ethnic cleansing were put under the authority of an oppresive military regime that forcibly removed the remaining Bedouin into an area of land called the ‘syaj’ or (fenced) in a triangle marked by the towns of Beersheba, Arad and Dimona.

Demonstration in the Naqab, (Photo by ISM) — Demonstration in the Naqab (Photo by ISM)

In 1965 Israeli authorities passed the ‘Planning and Building Law.’ One aspect of that law was to map out all the existing communities that fell under the state and although many of the villages had existed before the creation of Israel, or had been created by the Israeli army as part of the population transfer to the Syaj zone, they were left of the map and so became ‘unrecognised’ villages and illegal by law.

Over 40 000 Bedouin currently stay in these ‘unrecognised’ villages, that because of the nature of their illegality under Israeli law, have no access to infrastructure like roads, water, sewage, electricity, education and healthcare although they became citizens of Israel. The other 105 000 Bedouins live in urban townships, or concentration townships that have some of the highest poverty and crime rates in the country, created in 1969 to encourage the Bedouins to relinquish their land rights. The Bedouin who accepted were internally displaced refugees who were not allowed to return to their ancestral lands outside the Syaj zone.

Israel uses a manipulation of an old Ottoman law that declares non cultivated land as dead land and so transfers land to the ownership of the state. The land outside the Syaj area became dead land due to people unable to return and so passed to control of the Israeli state without consultation with the Bedouins. In the 1970s the public were allowed to file ownership claims over the land and so the Bedouin filed 3221 claims for a total of 242 750 acres. The process was then frozen and never offered again. Those lands claimed are subject to be lost under the Prawer plan but only those that were allowed to be registered for a short time in the 1970s are able to be compensated though the Prawer Plan. This compensation however is only to the maximum of 50% of worth that reasonable estimates believe will only amount to 16% in real terms. This is on the condition that they relinquish all rights of their ancestral land and move to the townships or the 10 ‘recognised’ villages.

The current situation of the Prawer Plan represents the largest single ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since the Nakba and highlights the plight of the indigenous peoples of Historic Palestine who remained in the 1948 borders with the creation of Israel. The situation of the Bedouin in the Naqab have long been subject to hardships in spite of formally existing as Israeli citizens, but have still lived in similar circumstances to their kin in the West Bank and Gaza. In 2011, 1000 houses were demolished and since the 1970s the Bedouin have been harassed and attacked by ‘Green Patrols’, a miltary unit set up by Ariel Sharon as part of the Agricultural ministry to specifically target Bedouin, and in recent times these duties have been taken over by by settlers from Kibutzes in the Naqab who often attack and intimidate the population. The Prawer Plan and the discriminatory laws and tactics used against non-Jewish citizens of Israel highlight the concerns of Israel’s demand to be recognised as a Jewish State in the ‘peace’ talks. Non-Jewish citizens are already being internally displaced through pogroms and discriminatory laws. Recognising Israel as a Jewish State will confirm that they are unequal and do not belong, regardless of their indigenous status and history of the land.

Video- Fifth Canaan protest village built on annexed Palestinian land in the middle of the illegal Gush Etzion Colonial block

27th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Canaan village, Occupied Palestine

The Canaan protest village was built for the fifth time today, the 27th July 2013, annexed Palestinian land in the middle of the illegal Gush Etzion Colonial block next to the illegal colony of Migdal Oz. The nonviolent protesters stayed in the tent on their land for around an hour and a half, before the Israeli occupation soldiers tore it down, violently repressing the demonstration.

At 11.30am, around thirty Palestinian, international and Israeli activists entered Palestinian land which has been annexed by the illegal Israeli colony, Migdal Oz. They immediately erected a simple but symbolic tent, representing the Palestinian right to the land. Within five minutes, several soldiers had arrived on the scene, heavily armed with assault rifles. They were followed shortly afterwards by several jeeps, and the number of soldiers and police increased to over fifty within half an hour.

Fifth Canaan protest village (Photo by ISM)

During this time, some colonists left the colony and questioned the demonstrators on their reasons for the protest. The speeches, that had started right after the erection of the symbolic tent continued until around 12.50, when the protesters were given a written demolition order stating that the tent would be demolished in 10 minutes.

At that point demonstrators assembled inside the tent structure and began singing and chanting, whilst the army started forming around the tent. The demonstrators refused to leave their symbolic village.

The soldiers started tearing down the tent with the demonstrators inside it, violently pushing people away with riot shields and eventually breaking the tent pole that the protesters were holding onto. Numerous demonstrators were pushed to the ground. After the tent was demolished around fourty soldiers stayed in formation continuing to drive the protesters away from the colony onto the main road.

The soldiers then stopped the demonstrators and blocked off the road for some minutes whilst shoving the protesters to one side against the hard shoulder. When the protesters after that tried to leave from the car park, the army again blocked the road hindering them from leaving for several minutes without communicating an order.

View from inside the tent, protester holding "Our land is our right" poster — View from inside the tent, protester holding “Our land is our right” sign (Photo by ISM)

The tent village was built to remember the right of Palestinians to their land and to express solidarity with hunger strikers imprisoned for fighting for the Palestinian struggle. In statements, Palestinians taking part in the tent village have expressed their general support for negotiations to end the occupation, but condemned the current round of false negotiations, that have been going on for years while Israel continues to build colonies and colonise Palestinian land.

There have been four previous incarnations of the Canaan village, all of which have been reclaiming Palestinian land and protesting the illegal colonial annexation. The previous tent villages have been built by the South West Bank Popular Committee in the south of the West Bank and have all been violently dismantled by the Israeli occupation military, with arrests of nonviolent demonstrators.

The simple tent structure chosen as a symbol of resistance and the disproportionate military action following its erection; this demonstrates the level of violence that is needed to sustain the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.